Grip on Sports: Darrell Bevell is out as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you looked out your window this morning and saw a bunch of people in Seahawks’ jerseys dancing in the street, there is a reason. Really, there is. Darrell Bevell is gone. Read on.

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• So who do we blame now when the Seahawks go three-and-out in their first possession of the 2018 season?

It was always offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell’s fault. 

The Super Bowl loss? Blame Bevell. The lack of points against awful teams? Blame Bevell. The losses of 2017 mounted? Blame Bevell.

The same Darrell Bevell, of course, who was in charge when the Hawks scored more than 40 points in their Super Bowl win. And the same one who called plays when they led the NFL in total offense in 2015. And the same one who oversaw the development of Russell Wilson into an elite NFL quarterback.

But whenever the Seahawks failed to win, no matter if that failure was the result of a defense that gave up too many points or a field goal kicker yaaking two or three attempts, Bevell was blamed.

That’s the way it is.

There has to be someone to blame. For the Hawks, especially since the decision to throw on the goal line against the Pats, that person has been Bevell. He was fired Tuesday night.

There is some merit to the argument, of course. Seattle’s offense had become pretty predictable over the years and seemed to rely on concepts that worked only when Marshawn Lynch was in the backfield. Talent can make a good play caller look great and a poor one look OK.

The obvious flip-side of that is what happened to Bevell in Seattle. Given a decent offensive line, a running back that always seemed to gain four yards, a quarterback who was a film-room junkie and the best defense in the league to take the pressure off, Bevell’s play calls were good enough to get the Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowls.

But his legacy was scarred by not winning back-to-back Super Bowls.

And now the Hawks don’t have a decent offensive line, don’t have the running back, don’t have a football-is-my-life quarterback and don’t have a dominating defense.

So the offensive coordinator gets blamed. And has to go.

He did, you know. Have to go. The Hawks have to make some changes this offseason. A 9-7 record isn’t good enough. Missing the playoffs by that much is not good enough. So Bevell is out. And the 12s can rejoice.

Until his replacement has the same problems.

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WSU: Give Mike Leach credit. He isn’t wasting time. He hired a defensive coordinator Monday and promoted one of the guys on his staff Tuesday. Theo Lawson covers the coaching changes in this story. … As Washington State’s season ended unranked in the top 25, Theo looks back at the top moments in a year full of them. … Stefanie Loh has the assistant coaching news. … Speaking of assistants, former WSU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch will get a raise at Ohio State and, for a while at least, be the Buckeyes highest paid assistant. … There is a Washington State football mention in our “Looking Back” feature. … And there is a major WSU basketball mention in the Times’ Pac-12 notebook.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, the FBI probe into college basketball recruiting has been simmering for a while. But it boiled over a bit in Colorado last week. Now there might be a mess to clean up. … The conference doesn’t get a lot of respect and Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak doesn’t believe that’s right. Now his Utes need to earn some. … USC hosts the conference’s hottest team, Colorado. … UCLA is getting some unexpected contributions. … Oregon State is seeing success with a zone. … Oregon has received a boost off the bench. … In football, Washington seems on track to entice a prodigal quarterback home. That would seem to overload the roster with good QBs, which usually means someone else will be leaving. … Arizona is still looking for a coach but has a quarterback. … Utah expects to have more depth next season.  … The Bruins didn’t have a good season. … This is a fun story on a group of guys that exist at every school. … Will the playoff system ever change?

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs are balanced on offense. It’s a program thing. Jim Meehan looks at how that scoring balance helps.

Whitworth: No. 1-ranked Whitman pulled away late and won the first matchup of the season with the third-ranked Pirates, 91-75 in Walla Walla. … The Whitworth women also lost.

Chiefs: Kamloops scored twice in the first period and made those goals good in a 2-1 win over visiting Spokane.

Preps: Tuesday nights are full of basketball and last night was no different. We can offer roundups of girls and boys action in the GSL as well as boys and girls roundups from around the area. … Dave Nichols has a story on the four area players nominated for the McDonald’s All-American team.

Seahawks: Besides the Bevell news, it looks as if the Hawks may play a game with the Raiders in London next season.

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• There is a list of possible Bevell replacements at the end of Bob Condotta’s story in the Times. On it is a couple of interesting names. It will be fun to see how the 12s react to whomever the Hawks hire. Until later …